"Tell me and I may forget.
Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I will understand."
{Chinese Proverb - Author unknown}
In recent years genealogy
research has become an ever increasing experience that many have taken on as never seen before. This quest, to find more about our own past, brings us to quickly understand that the search for "Family History" is not only unique in itself but connects us to the "World History" of the
World Wide Community at every point in our research. Questions such
as, "Why did my great grandparents immigrate from the old world?,
become much clearer as our research slowly links our Family History to
the 'Clearances' of Scotland,
the 'Potato Famines' of Ireland
or perhaps to the pains of a distant 'War'.
What better way to motivate
students in the study of history than by having them become part of
that history through the research of their own family!
As a teacher, how would I go
about creating a genealogy unit that would assist myself and my
students in linking family roots and history? What better person to work on trying to help others in researching their projects on the net than that of a teacher. MacLinks would like to thank Virginia Conklin, a teacher librarian, for her work and continued support on our educational website section.
The information that follows has
been collated to assist the teacher, student, parent and yes, even the
beginning family researcher in locating and understanding about family
roots. Please note; as time goes on this list will be added too, as
more research is done on this topic area. If you have any suggestions
or questions please feel free to contact MacLinks. Your comments and or
suggestions would be most appreciated.
Student, Teacher and Parent Resource Index For Organizing A Genealogy Unit Using The Internet
Reference Sources For Creating of A Genealogy Unit
********************************************
~ In The Beginning {An Example} ~
In order to make this research
part of History and the Family, an introductory activity for all
students of research, should be the creation and understanding of a
what a Time Line is and where it
connects the individual with his/her own space in history.
Example - Suited for Primary Grades:
A daily time line beginning with
waking up and ending when the student goes to sleep. Have the class as
a large group create two activity charts. The first would illustrate
what may be going on in the community and the second, what I did during that time. A comparison between the two could then be illustrated by drawing a horizontal line with the community data on the top and the Me information below the line. This activity would fit into most of the curriculum, ie: Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, etc.
The following has been taken from the website. I have taken the time to place it here so that you may read the author's insight into the importance of research.
"... Doing genealogical research is always a high interest activity for students of all ages. In addition to the rewards of a personal nature, research creates a host of opportunities to practice and integrate social studies skills learned or that need to be learned.
Family histories written today provide some of the primary resource material for the historians of the future ("...when a person dies a library burns..") Collecting data, obtaining and evaluating documents and sources, conducting and recording eyewitness accounts of historical events in family life provide opportunities to practice the historians craft. We should ask student/historians to weed and cull, to evaluate, to interpret, and to assign value to historical events and accounts of those events.
Finally, we must ask students to practice their writing skills and to publish in some form, if only for fellow students and other family members. In addition to these reasons, knowing the family medical history can have a survival value, as more and more research links families to various diseases. With all of these advantages, I am surprised that more don't require lessons in family history..."
Take the time to go over this authors' resources as you will find them most useful in your lesson planning or research planning. Thank you Dennis for your insight and obvious dedicated work.
This site contains a list of
suggested activities for all school age groups, reference books and
templates for charts dealing with the Family Tree for all students.
This site has hundreds of links
that will help students, parents and teachers access a universe of
information from the web. The sites listed are safe for all ages to
view. {From the Author} "A word of caution on some of the Holocaust
material, as it might be too graphic for young kids. If you know where you want to go, just click on the hyperlink of your choice on the page."
**********************
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wgwkids/ WorldGenWeb For Kids site is for students (18 and under) or classes to work on their research for genealogy/history.
The Project Coordinators
have made an extreme effort in an attempt to work with all students
from any country of the world. There is a collection of search sites,
data sites, query forums mailing lists and an expert who has offered
her services to assist anyone with a question. The site is an
excellent resource site for the whole class or the individual student
and or teacher.
**********************
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cangwkid/
Annette Peebles, the author of, "CanadaGenWeb For Kids Project", has put together a site that will assist any student dealing with learning their, "Family History". It is an interactive site!
The index format includes forums for students and teachers alike, links to Canadian sites that focus on genealogy, links to other schools where participants can communicate to each other if they so wish, and much more.
Although a learning site that focuses mainly on Canadian genealogy, it is quite useful for the student/parent/teacher who may live outside of Canada BUT are searching for their Canadian roots.
Annette states that this site will always be under construction. With new information being added continually you will definitely have to bookmark this website. Thank you Annette for your hard work.
**********************
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgwkidz/ USGenWeb Project - Kidz offers an interactive experience to the student and teacher using the internet as a communication tool.
Project Co-Coordinators; Dee Pavey and Ruth Floyd have created a site in which the teacher's students are able to interact with students from other participating classes through the KidZ Forum and mailing lists. The teacher or student can also discuss a particular piece of research or get the answer to a problem by contacting directly with Dee or Ruth.
**********************
http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/ Created by Julia M. Case, Rhonda McClure and Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG. "Tracing Family Trees" is an excellent reference source for developing specific grade level material.
This site puts together
information concerning HOME SCHOOLING within Canada and ALL of its
provinces. The package contains, legal topics as well as educational
topics. Although not concerned with genealogy as a separate topic, we
felt that the information from this site was important enough to be
placed on this page as a resource for parents that are dealing with
HOME SCHOOLING.
**********************
http://www.kidsvista.com/ Kids Web! ; is a comprehensive digital learning resource library and information portal... serving students, parents and teachers.
A message from the index page
--> ". . .Kid's Web presents students with a subset of the Web that is
very simple to navigate, and contains information targeted at the K-12
level. Each subject section, contains a list of links to information
that is understandable and interesting to school kids. There are also
links to external lists of material on each subject which more advanced
students can browse for further information. . . "
**********************
http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/links/index.html "Genealogy Site Finder!" This directory of 86,110 genealogy Web sites is maintained by April and Matt Helm. The site is updated daily seeking the best sites for the learning process.
http://www.familysearch.org/sg/ The Family History Center maintained by the Latter Day Saints contains three major links that may be helpful as a source for individual needs. Please note: there may be a cost attached to the material needed. They are:
--> Guides to help you find records about your ancestors
--> Definitions of words found in the How-To Guides
--> Suggestions for the best subjects to search in a catalog
**********************
Genealogy Research Tools
Charts, Forms, etc. that you will need on your quest can be found within the following links. They contain helpful research tools that will assist you in organizing your research data.
http://www.excite.com/family/genealogy/reference/abbreviations/ Excite.com has a number of good links dealing with genealogy. This particular page deals with sources that define and explain the many abbreviations that you find in your research. An excellent resource page to bookmark.
**********************
http://genealogy.about.com/hobbies/genealogy/msubedu-freeclasses.htm "About the Human Internet" is a website with professional guides to assist the viewer through the internet on numerous topics of interest. This particular link is one of over 700 sites dealing with genealogy. The focus is on; Genealogy Education - Free Online Classes. The page offers links to Self-paced lessons and classes available on the Internet which will help you to further your genealogy education for free.
is a categorized list of sites useful for enhancing curriculum and professional growth. The guide is updated daily to include the best sites for teaching and learning on a K - 12 basis.
From Kathy's Guide:
Dear Myrtle at; http://www.DearMYRTLE.com/lessons.htm maintains a site that contains a considerable amount of resource information dealing with developing and encouraging the study of Family History.
The author has created the
following package{s} for assisting the teacher in developing a unit of
study for a term or organizing the study of genealogy throughout the
year. Please note; the information presented
does not deal with any specific grade level. The teacher would have to
organize and develop the area of study and the sequence of activities
according to their grade level.
Beginning Genealogy Lessons contains:
{1} --> 35 lessons with introduction
{2} --> 13 related topics dealing with genealogy
Organizational Plan for the year contains:
{1} --> a month by month checklist
{2} --> 3 related topics dealing with organization
Kid's Genealogy contains:
{1} --> 16 step by step information packages
Using LDS contains:
{1} --> 34 research topics from LDS Family History Centers discussed by Myrtle.
Writing Your Personal History contains:
{1} --> 12 information packages
{2} --> 5 related topics
**********************
KBYU Television and
Brigham Young University, authors of "Ancestors" http://www.kbyu.org/ancestors/, is a companion web site to the PBS family history and genealogy television series.
This website offers the teacher
numerous resources including: {a} Helpful Tips from Other Genealogists,
{b} State-by-State Resource Guide - USA, {c} Free Charts and Forms and
{d} an Overview of the series, "Ancestors" - http://www.kbyu.org/ancestors/firstseries/ to name only a few. The choice is up to the teacher as to whether these resources are used as a part to enhance a topic of study throughout the year or as a term unit dealing with a specific topic, ie; How to locate information from sources other than the library.
In conjunction with the television series of, "Ancestors"; a teacher's guide containing a set of 14 lesson plans is made available to the teacher. The Teacher's Guide as a PDF Version may be downloaded from this website cost free.
Topics discussed within the Teacher's Guide:
The Introduction which indicates the basic objectives for each
lesson as well as other information which might be involved in each
lesson.
Episode 201 --> Records at Risk
Episode 202 --> Family Records
Episode 203 --> Compiled Records
Episode 204 --> Technology & Genealogy
Episode 205 --> Vital Records
Episode 206 --> Religious Records
Episode 207 --> Cemetery Records
Episode 208 --> Census Episode 209 --> Military Records
Episode 210 --> Newspapers
Episode 211 --> Probate Records
Episode 212 --> Immigration Records
Episode 213 --> Family History
**********************
WebQuests and Their Use As A Teaching Tool
"WebQuests in Our Future: The Teacher's Role in
Cyberspace" This excellent article found at;
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/webquest/webquest.html explains what WebQuest is and how to use it as a tool for
integrating the internet and the classroom curriculum. {an excerpt}
". . .A WebQuest is defined, by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State
University, as 'an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of
the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the
Internet.' . . ."
Examples of Learning Activities Developed by Teachers Using Webquest As a Guideline Tool.Primary Elementary Webquest:
To save time MacLinks has installed an onsite search engine
for your convenience on this page and on Rhonda's Research and Data Center
page. Simply insert your 'keyword' and LookSmart will scan the entire
MacLinks site to find your information. There is a second button on the
form that will search the entire internet for you.
On Site Navigational Form to Your Page/Links of Interest
In the interest of those who wish to go where they want quickly, we have added a navigational form. Press the small up and down arrows and go to where you want. No buttons, no confusion, no names - same simple old big page! At the bottom of each page the same navigational form will appear to take you where you want to go.
Enjoy - Dave MacLennan (MacLinks Family Connections) & Bruce McLennan (Clan MacLennan - Worldwide)
Clan MacLennan - Worldwide / MacLinks' Family Connections Genealogy Navigational Form
Make Your Connections!
Join Our Resource Forum!
Please Sign Our Guest Book!
In remembrance of the horrific catastrophe of September 11th, 2001, World Trade Center, New York City; a message from our American friends.
